To my Law Enforcement Family...I NEED YOUR HELP !!!

My name is Tammy Ruck and I am a Sheriff's Deputy (16 years) for Davidson County Sheriff's Office. My husband and I have 3 amazing children, but we have a special needs son named Barrett. He is 8 years old. He was born with two congenital heart defects, hydrnephrosis of his kidneys (now better), history of seizures, Autism, ADHD, Ehler's-Danlos Syndrome (type III), and he just had genetic testing last week and the geneticist suspects strongly he has Fragile X Syndrome (which encompasses many of the other problems he has). Last year our family fundraised $14,000 to buy our son a Service Dog to help with behaviors related to Autism, for Tracking, for Medical Alert, and to use for Balance Support. We received "Zach", the most awesome service dog ever, in December 2011. He was great for four months then he become ill with "something". Over the last two months we spent $3000 in medical bills trying to make Zach better, but he died 3 weeks ago of what the nuerologist suspects may have been muscular dystrophy (awaiting test results to come back to confirm that). The company we bought the service dog from is a small non-profit company unable to replace the Service Dog for free. It takes two years to train a service dog and cost about $20,000 over those two years to cover the expenses of training him. Donations and grants allow the company to sell the dogs to families for less to make it more affordable to us. So here we are, twice in one year having to raise $14,000 to get our son a service dog. We need your help in donations, fundraising ideas, prayers and sharing Barrett's story and website with all your contacts. Here is Barrett's website: www.barrettsdog.com. You can also see the latest news story on the internet too. Just go to News Channel 5 (Nashville), and search "Barrett Ruck". The latest story is called "Sudden death leaves autistic boy without service dog". We are reaching out to our Law Enforcement Community because this is more than our small family can do alone, especially since we just fundraised from everyone we knew last year and we are running into "donor fatigue". With your help we can get this kickstarted and get this sweet boy the service dog he so desparately needs. Thank you so much for your help. I appreciate it more than you may ever know. Thank you for sharing Barrett's story, taking him into your heart and helping him get his new service dog.

Tammy, I wish I could help financially, unfortunately, I can't right now, but you and your family are in my thoughts and prayers. Just a thought, sometimes insurance companies will cover things if the physician writes a script. I know they have covered such things as walkers, scooters, etc for my Dad and others. Maybe to help offset the cost your insurance company would cover at least some of it if the Dr or specialist wrote a script?

We had to have Barrett's doctor write a prescription, referring to the service dog as a medical assistive device (like a walker or brace) for balance control. That was how he was approved to get a service dog by the company supplying the dog, but our insurance company (CIGNA) would not pay for it at all. In fact most of the therapies we have Barrett in (due to his Autism) are also not covered by insurance and are considered alternative therapy (example: behavior modification therapy, social skills therapy, etc). They only cover speech, physical and occupational therapy. Barrett's last service dog alerted us if he was in medical distress (ex: seizure), doing self-harming behavior, escaping the house, in fact, he even alerted me one time when Barrett wet the bed! He was trained to track Barrett, because Barrett is a"runner" and we live near a lake and woods. I no longer had to worry about losing him in busy public places. Barrett used him to help him walk (balance) and to break his fall. So many things...we miss him.

My name is Tammy Ruck. I am an employee of Davidson County Sheriff's Office (since 1996). I just wanted to post an update on my son, Barrett Ruck. Although we did not recieve any support from our request, there are no hard feelings. Times are tough and people can be skeptical. We were actually able to raise the funds we needed in record time by fundraising in our community through car washes, spaghetti dinners, etc, etc... Barrett's second service dog is currently in training and we hope to have the dog placed with Barrett by the end of summer 2013. Barrett was actually so moved by the support he recieved from his community that he wanted to pay it forward and finance service dogs for other children with disabilities. We are so proud of him! We started a non-profit charity called Barrett's Brigade (barrettsbrigade.org). You can Google Barrett Ruck and find many stories about him including his new website for Barrett's Brigade. You can also find Barrett's Brigade on facebook (and "Like" it). For every $15,000 Barrett raises, he can place a service dog with a family who has a special needs child. $15,000 will pay for the dog, the supply list and cover travel expenses. We are choosing families off the waiting list at Wilderwood Service Dogs (Maryville, TN). Please share Barrett's story with friends and contacts, visit Barrett's website (Barrett's Brigade), visit Barrett's Brigade on facebook ("Like" it), and if you feel so inclined, please make Barrett's Brigade your charity of choice. Barrett is an amazing little boy, and I am so proud to be his Mom.